Hello, darlings!
We’ve been having a lot of damp, chilly weather here in the Boston area and PeaceBang’s old bones are creakin’. However, her old bones have been creaking a lot less since she quit using Splenda a week to ten days ago.
True story: My knees were aching so badly at night I was having trouble falling asleep, and who wants to pop Advil constantly? Not me. Advil may be OTC but it has serious side effects and I don’t want to take it every day.
I posted about my arthritic pain and stiff, almost-paralyzed morning fingers on my PB Facebook page and readers responded with all sorts of wonderful advice. One sweet woman sent me a beautiful rice pack that’s like a muff. You warm it in the microwave and tuck your hands inside, softly squeezing the rice to get your circulation going. Others suggested Shaklee supplements. A few people urged me to try glucosamine-chondroitin and since I had a bottle in the house I started that right away. And someone suggested that Splenda might be the culprit.
I had been consuming 2-4 packets of Splenda per day in coffee and tea, and sometimes some in the form of Diet Coke. I always have liquid stevia at home, but Splenda was my go-to sweetener for beverages consumed away from home.
I decided to eliminate Splenda – easy enough — and within less than a week I was feeling 90% better. I no longer have stiff hands and fingers in the morning and falling asleep is mostly a breeze now.
If this helps you or someone you know I’d be very pleased. I use Truvia now. It’s expensive but feeling good is invaluable.
PB, I saw this on Facebook and I’m wondering about the interplay of dropping Splenda and starting the Gluco-stuff. Which do you think is most responsible for your improvement? Not to make you our human lab rat or anything, but do you have any plans to drop the G-C and see if the improvement holds, or vice versa? I do use Splenda so I’m curious. [I’m just gonna keep doing what I’m doing! – PB]
I’m so glad you share these things with us. I would have never thought of splenda as being a culprit in my aches and pains. I have switched to a generic Truvia, but still indulge in Splenda in my coffee syrup and bottled drinks. Maybe that’s still too much. And I’m taking your advice and starting the GC again. I was taking it about 8 years ago, but was still young enough at that time I didn’t feel any different – now I ache and have a bad knee, so maybe this time I’ll see some benefits!
Thanks again for putting yourself out there and sharing. [Hey, happy to! Let us know if quitting Splenda works for you! – PB]
I’ve never tasted a sweetener that didn’t taste fake to me. So I’m all sugar, brown sugar and honey. And as for what I put in my tea…
Glucosomine won’t “kick in” any time soon. It needs to build up for weeks before you’ll begin to notice its impact. So in answer to WM’s question: it won’t be an “either/or.” It’s a longer term thing.
I had an acupuncturist who managed to persuade me that Splenda was from the devil, so I switched to Stevia. Stevia was an acquired taste at first, but I don’t notice the difference any more. I do have Splenda occasionally when buying sugar-free baked stuff, though i try to keep that minimal, too. For me, it’s all about refraining from having anything that revs my engines for more, MORE, MMMMMMORE!